1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a control apparatus that controls wireless communication setting in an information processing apparatus such as an image forming apparatus, and relates to a control method and a storage medium for the control apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
To enable an information processing apparatus such as an image forming apparatus to perform wireless communication with an external device, a wireless communication setting must generally be set in advance. In the case, for example, of an image forming apparatus, the wireless communication setting is set by a user by using an input panel provided in the image forming apparatus. It is however difficult for a general user to set the wireless communication setting since a number of setting items and options are involved in the setting and difficult terms are used therein.
Accordingly, an easy setting function called AOSS (AirStation One-Touch Secure System) has been developed by Buffalo Inc. that makes it easy for even a general user to make a setting of wireless communication e.g. between an information processing apparatus and a wireless access point. Also, a standard called WPS (Wi-Fi Protected Setup) has been created by the Wi-Fi Alliance, which is a trade association of companies that produce wireless LAN products.
When a communication terminal apparatus such as a digital still camera is newly connected to a wireless communication environment, a user must set a communication setting for the communication terminal apparatus, which is laborsome. Thus, there has been known a communication terminal apparatus which has a wireless communication function and a wired communication function and in which wireless communication setting information set in a computer such as a PC is acquired therefrom by using the wired communication function and wireless communication is performed by the wireless communication function by using the acquired wireless communication setting information (see, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2007-74556).
As described above, there have been proposed a variety of wireless communication setting techniques. Among these, the technique for making a wireless communication setting by using the AOSS function or by using the WPS function requires that a button input device must be provided in an information processing apparatus, which increases costs. In addition, the user is required to conduct a setting operation at a location near the information processing apparatus and near a wireless access point.
Also, in a case that a wireless communication setting is set by inputting a WPS PIN (personal identification number) code into an information processing apparatus, a panel input device for inputting the PIN code must be provided in the information processing apparatus, which increases costs. In addition, there is a fear that there occurs a mistake when the PIN code is input.
At any rate, conventional information processing apparatuses have a problem that a user must perform troublesome wireless communication setting and that these apparatuses become high-priced, if they require an additional device such as an input device for wireless communication setting. This is disadvantageous especially in e.g. an image forming apparatus, which must be low-priced.